Quirks of the MG5

[Alibro]

Hi guys
I've now owned my 2021 MG5 PFL LR for a couple of weeks and driven almost 1000 miles so have noticed some oddities and thought it would be fun to start a thread to talk about the quirks of the car.
This is not a complaints thread, I love the car and no car is perfect, all have things about them we might change, think of it more as a Victory Meldrew thread.
To get the ball rolling here are a few.

My speed limits warning seems to be just guessing at the speed limit as it gets it wrong so often. Even when the satnav has the correct speed limit showing on the screen the dash warning is often wrong???

The car loves to warn me about "Conditional speed limits" and puts a dire warning amber triangle on the dash to make sure I'm aware. This is just crazy, as I was driving the car home from the dealer this warning flashed up and I thought there was a major fault with the car. Even worse I was on a motorway at the time so the warning was completely spurious.

If I forget to take my keys with me I get no warning when I open and close the door. When I remember about the keys and return to the car it bleeps like crazy to tell me. It's like rubbing salt in the wound of my stupidity!!!
And too bad if your at a fast food restaurant or such and get out to throw rubbish in a bin, it will berate you until you go to drive off.

The speedometer is ridiculously hard to read! Why on earth is it calibrated to 150mph? On what planet will anyone in an MG5 be driving that fast? Had it been sensibly calibrated to say, 100 or even 120mph it would be much easier to read.

And to rub salt in the wound of the last quirk every time you touch the cruise control it jumps away from the excellent digital speedo to the CC screen and refuses to jump back. If you get used to reading the digital speedo the tiny speedo tucked into the left of the dash is the last thing you look for.

Is it just me
I can't Beleeeeeve it!

 

[Amun]

or, more accurately, quirks of the PFL version...

 

[maskull]

I've got used to most of them ,doesn't bother me . The amber triangle did freak me out at first , I thought it was telling me that I had a flat tyre . Soon learnt to press and hold the OK button to make it disappear , but it comes back as soon as you hit roadworks / or temporary speed restrictions

 

[emmrecs]

every time you touch the cruise control it jumps away from the excellent digital speedo to the CC screen and refuses to jump back.

Just press the left arrow and it will return to the digital speedo screen.

Have you "explored" the various options which can be accessed via the up and down arrows when on that digital speedo?

 

[5teep]

You do get used to them but yes, the cruise control screen not reverting automatically is an annoyance.

 

[Alibro]

Just press the left arrow and it will return to the digital speedo screen.

Have you "explored" the various options which can be accessed via the up and down arrows when on that digital speedo?

I'm used to hitting the left arrow button I have to do it so often.

Yes there is great info from those screens.

I've got used to most of them ,doesn't bother me . The amber triangle did freak me out at first , I thought it was telling me that I had a flat tyre . Soon learnt to press and hold the OK button to make it disappear , but it comes back as soon as you hit roadworks / or temporary speed restrictions

Thanks for this, I didn't realise the OK button would clear it.

Another quirk is the short term mileage counter resets quicker than I'd like.
I do 3 or 4 jobs per day for work so am onsite for a couple of hours at a time and every time I get in the car it has reset. My last car took around 8 hours to reset which was better.
It means although I have a total miles per kWh count since trip counter last reset (currently 3.9) and one for the current journey I don't get one for the full day.
It's not a big deal but would be nice to know how economical I've been on a given day.

or, more accurately, quirks of the PFL version...

True. I'm sure the FL model has quirks too but how many of the PFL quirks have been sorted in the FL?

 

[Alibro]

Anyone else crazy enough to prefer driving in Eco mode?
I started using it this week for the first time and find I prefer the lazier throttle response.
It means I can lean my foot on the throttle in a more relaxed way.

Back to whinging today I cleaned and painted the rusty bits under the bonnet. I'm not sure what's going on there apart from uber thin paint but it's something I've never had to do before in 40 years motoring. And this is the newest car I've owned by a lot. My last car was 12 years old when I traded it for the 2021 MG5

Here's another but not a whinge this time.
The digital speedo and the analogue speedo give different readings!!!
The digital speedo is very accurate as it seems to be driven by the sat nav but the analogue speedo on the other hand reads the normal 1 or 2mph faster than you are actually going.
Something to bare in mind for those of us who like to push our luck with Mr Plod.

 

[Richard P]

Anyone else crazy enough to prefer driving in Eco mode?
I started using it this week for the first time and find I prefer the lazier throttle response.
It means I can lean my foot on the throttle in a more relaxed way.

Back to whinging today I cleaned and painted the rusty bits under the bonnet. I'm not sure what's going on there apart from uber thin paint but it's something I've never had to do before in 40 years motoring. And this is the newest car I've owned by a lot. My last car was 12 years old when I traded it for the 2021 MG5

Under the bonnet? I've had mine nearly 3 years and haven't opened it yet ?

 

[watdub]

2021 MG5 also. 3 quirks stand out for me.

1. Car won't remember my preferences (Eco, Recovery 3, etc)

2. Is the MG5 the only EV that doesn't show the charging % on screen when using external chargers?

3. What's the point of this screen? When the car is moving, it's just a little animation showing energy moving from the battery to the wheels. And technically it's the first screen (see arrow in pic)

 

[M44LCY]

I've had my facelift for three months now, and I'm very happy with it. But, as has been said, very little in life is perfect. So here's what makes me shake my head in wonderment.

I finish my overnight charging and unlock the car to remove the cable - the headlights come on. Hmmm …

I turn the car off, but the radio keeps playing until I lock up. Yes, I can hit the pause or mute, but … Hmmm

The 'Carplay' USB is on the passenger side, hidden under the 'flying buttress' (which I love). Ideal for left hand drive but inaccessble to those with right hand drive. It can't be hard to switch the two USB sockets depending on where the steering wheel is? Hmmm

Another USB one - wouldn't it be good to have a hole in the 'flying buttress' to let us feed a cable up. We could then pop our phones into a cup holder for easy access rather than … well, is there an alternative place to keep it and still have easy access?

Why can't we have a printed user handbook? Hmmm

Switching from the default dashboard view to see your consumption stats - we have to scroll past the 'faults' view - I doubt many of us regularly drive along thinkng “I wonder if any faults have been logged today”?

Nothing in the above is REALLY annoying. It's mostly a case of my mental model of how things 'should' work being different from the designers' model. But, of course, my model is obviously the correct one. Hmmmm. ?

 

[Richard P]

2021 MG5 also. 3 quirks stand out for me.

1. Car won't remember my preferences (Eco, Recovery 3, etc)

2. Is the MG5 the only EV that doesn't show the charging % on screen when using external chargers?

3. What's the point of this screen? When the car is moving, it's just a little animation showing energy moving from the battery to the wheels. And technically it's the first screen (see arrow in pic)

View attachment 28633

Not saving your preferences is a real pain and WHY the automatic handbrake isn't set to on as default. As for the pretty picture, well. .

 

[Alibro]

Tonight I drove it for the first time in the dark and discovered an exciting new trick.
Auto(ish) dimming headlights.
It auto dimmed for a set of traffic lights, auto dimmed when I drove into a village and auto dimmed for one of the four cars I passed.
Mmmmmm

Not saving your preferences is a real pain and WHY the automatic handbrake isn't set to on as default. As for the pretty picture, well. .

Does the auto handbrake knock it into Park? I still haven't quite figured out when I'm supposed to use Park, Neutral, handbrake or turn the car off and the odd time I went to drive off only to find I was in Neutral.

 

[Gomev]

Does the auto handbrake knock it into Park? I still haven't quite figured out when I'm supposed to use Park, Neutral, handbrake or turn the car off and the odd time I went to drive off only to find I was in Neutral.

I have never used Neutral in an EV. In the 5, I either pressed P when parking or just turned it off, same result. Only time I used handbrake was if I was feeling kind to the driver behind at traffic light etc and didn't want the 'Autohold' brake lights blazing away.
However in my Kona I have to activate parking/hand brake and then Park otherwise I get the old rocking American auto stop.

 

[kevin ellard]

I've had my facelift for three months now, and I'm very happy with it. But, as has been said, very little in life is perfect. So here's what makes me shake my head in wonderment.

I finish my overnight charging and unlock the car to remove the cable - the headlights come on. Hmmm …

I turn the car off, but the radio keeps playing until I lock up. Yes, I can hit the pause or mute, but … Hmmm

The 'Carplay' USB is on the passenger side, hidden under the 'flying buttress' (which I love). Ideal for left hand drive but inaccessble to those with right hand drive. It can't be hard to switch the two USB sockets depending on where the steering wheel is? Hmmm

Another USB one - wouldn't it be good to have a hole in the 'flying buttress' to let us feed a cable up. We could then pop our phones into a cup holder for easy access rather than … well, is there an alternative place to keep it and still have easy access?

Why can't we have a printed user handbook? Hmmm

Switching from the default dashboard view to see your consumption stats - we have to scroll past the 'faults' view - I doubt many of us regularly drive along thinkng “I wonder if any faults have been logged today”?

Nothing in the above is REALLY annoying. It's mostly a case of my mental model of how things 'should' work being different from the designers' model. But, of course, my model is obviously the correct one. Hmmmm. ?

Agree with most of your points. I don't really need a printed handbook but it would be nice if it was easier to read in car. For the phone thing - I've put a phone holder on the air vent between the console and the steering wheel. I can still get to the phone if I need too but it keeps it out of the way and the cable is fairly neat. It works quite well for me.
In general it feels like a few days consumer testing would have had most of the silly things ironed out.
That said, I still really love the car.

 

[Amun]

I turn the car off, but the radio keeps playing until I lock up. Yes, I can hit the pause or mute, but … Hmmm

This is fixed in a software update - used to be one of my bugbears, but now the car remembers what it was last set to.

 

[kevin ellard]

This is fixed in a software update - used to be one of my bugbears, but now the car remembers what it was last set to.

Really? Which update?

 

[Alibro]

I got myself in a pickle yesterday by trying to put the car in Drive before it was ready!
Got the dreaded HV warning and it took several attempts to get it going.
Methinks a little patience is in order from now on.

Having said that my last car was a 2012 Merc C Class and if I tried to turn the key in the ignition too quickly the same thing happened. OK it's not really a key and the ignition is not a switch like we would know it in old cars but it still failed to start and I had to turn off and start again but a bit slower.

 

[Amun]

Really? Which update?

No idea - when I put it in for servicing in March they just said that there was an infotainment update to be applied, and it worked OK after that. If there's anything that you'd like me to look up on the car, no problem.

 

[kevin ellard]

No idea - when I put it in for servicing in March they just said that there was an infotainment update to be applied, and it worked OK after that. If there's anything that you'd like me to look up on the car, no problem.

Thanks for the offer but I can put up with the way it is until its next service this winter.

 

[johnd973]

Ours is the same age as yours but we've had it from new so had plenty of time to get used to the quirks.

The speedometer is ridiculously hard to read! Why on earth is it calibrated to 150mph? On what planet will anyone in an MG5 be driving that fast? Had it been sensibly calibrated to say, 100 or even 120mph it would be much easier to read.

I guess it's a matter of personal preference. I hate the digital speedo; I'm not blind, I don't need my speed displayed in a font and size that can probably be read by the driver of the car behind, particularly when I already have that information on the left of the screen! I like the traditional needle speedo and when we briefly looked at changing to the FL model and had a test drive, I hated the all digital dash. Messy and confusing I thought!

Not saving settings is the biggest annoyance though; was that fixed in the FL?

What I also dislike is the nagging noise that comes from the left seat when you put it in sport mode and boot it. Does anybody else get that?

After almost 3 years of ownership I wouldn't say I love the car but it is proving incredibly practical, exceptionally cheap to run, and very reliable. Hopefully I'm still saying that in 3 weeks when it goes for it's first MOT!